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Students can accomplish integrative tasks in architectural design and planning. They are able to critically formulate architectural concepts independently, situate them in the architectural discourse and realise them across a variety of scales. Students are familiar with a series of methods and special skills which are required to integrate aesthetic, functional, programmatic, urban, topological, technical and ecological aspects into their designs.

Teaching methods of analysis and synthesis within a design task; Understanding of the interactions between the design and its urban, socio-cultural or discursive context.

House of Affects

The House of Affects studio explores architectural design as a relational and performative practice. Affect is understood as the capacity of entities—human and nonhuman, material and immaterial—to influence and be influenced, forming dynamic networks of interaction. This perspective challenges the traditional notion of the architect as a singular author, instead situating design and inhabitation within a web of interdependent agents and forces.

Architecture is approached not as a static composition of forms but as a system of relations, emerging from the interplay of diverse actors, including human and nonhuman users, materials, technologies, and broader social, environmental, and political contexts. The studio emphasizes a human-decentered approach, where the architect’s role is to facilitate conditions of interaction—frameworks that enable these actors to coalesce into coherent and adaptive architectural choreographies.

In this way, architecture is understood as a performative system, responsive to the interactions and affects that constitute it. The studio invites students to explore how architecture can evolve as an active and open system, engaging with the complexities of its contexts and the multiplicity of its actors. The House of Affects studio encourages a speculative and critical rethinking of architectural practice, positioning architecture as a site of negotiation, transformation, and interaction. It seeks to cultivate an understanding of design as a process that is deeply embedded in the relational and performative dimensions of the contemporary world.

Still, the results will be concrete, materialized architectural proposals that meets the fundamental requirements and assessments of a "building."

TASKS

The studio is structured around a series of tasks. These tasks are iterative and cumulative, encouraging students to progressively develop their design methodologies while engaging with the complexities of affective interactions. Each task builds upon the previous one, expanding the scale and scope of investigation while maintaining a focus on the interplay of diverse actors and forces.

Find our BRIEF and PRESENTATION:

https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/architektur/studium/entwerfen-2025w/

https://www.exparch.at

details are available on 1st of September, 2025.

PROCESS

Theme – Means – Design (Why – How – What)

The studio is structured around a triadic framework of Theme, Means, and Design, which together represent three interconnected dimensions of the architectural design process. These dimensions—why, how, and what—are in constant dialogue, forming a cohesive structure that integrates theory, strategy, and execution into a comprehensive design methodology. This approach encourages an iterative understanding of architecture, where each element informs and influences the others, fostering a dynamic and adaptive design environment.

GOAL

The goal of the studio is to guide students in developing their own thematic focus and design methodology, translating these into concrete architectural prototypes that explore relational and performative systems. The first semester is dedicated to identifying, refining, and applying an individual approach to the concept of affect in architecture. In the second semester, students will apply their design methodologies to a specific context, culminating in the development of a comprehensive architectural proposal. 

For the final submission, students are expected to produce fully developed architectural projects, presented through a range of media, including architectural drawings (plans, sections), physical models, photographs, renderings/videos, system diagrams, and detailed studies. 

All projects will be publicly exhibited during the Summer Show 2026, with the design and curation of the exhibition forming an integral part of the studio’s tasks. 

Course examination according to § 6, statute section on "study-law regulations".

Gregg Melissa Gregory J Seigworth (eds) - The Affect Theory Reader 2010

Gausa Manuel and Jordi Vivalvi – The Threefold Logics of Advanced Architecture (Part III)

Eisenman Peter - The Affects of Singularity 1992

Jobst Marko and Hélène Frichot (eds) - Architectural Affects after Deleuze and Guattari 2020

Wolodzko Agnieszka - Affect as Contamination 2023

Spuybroek Lars - The Sympathy of Things 2016

Bennet Jane – Vibrant Matter 2010

Armstrong Rachel - Vibrant Architecture 2015

Massumi Brian - Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation 2002

Gaston Bachelard - Poetik des Raumes

Jean Gebser - Ursprung und Gegenwart